Beyond Her Final Breath (Book 1- Shadowland Duology) | Wattys2015

.Chapter Sixteen.

The girl on the floor stirred. Her slender fingers twitched by her head, gently touching her soft sandy hair. Strands of her hair were soaked with water from an overturned bowl.

A low moan rose in her throat, and she opened her eyes. Gunmetal blue eyes looked up at the ceiling, the pupils constricted and unfocused. A headache throbbed behind her temples, and she shut her eyes with a wince. She felt like the time her friend had brought out a bottle of vodka at a sleepover, and they drank the whole bottle.

Her throat felt parched and dry, like she decided to swallow a shovelful of sand. She coughed and sat up, her eyes gazing dazedly around. Water from the overturned bowl soaked between the cracks of the wooden floor. Grains of salt scattered themselves across the floor. Vanilla and smoke lingered in the air and in her clothes.

She glanced at the alarm clock on her nightstand, the flashing numbers reading 11:57.

She groaned, running a hand through her messy curls. Every muscle in her body screamed with agony. She furrowed her brow, trying to remember what happened last night. All she could remember was a flash of bright light and then... it hit her.

Her eyes widened, the pupils focusing and returning to normal. A slight gasp escaped her lips, and she glanced around the mess in her room. Sage pushed herself to her feet, wobbling slightly on weak legs. She stepped to her bed, her foot stepping into a puddle of water.

"Ugh," she groaned, hopping on one foot.

She glanced around her floor, looking for something to wipe her foot off on. She grabbed a spare shirt and dried her foot off. Glancing between the shirt and puddle, she shrugged and tossed it on top of the water.

Sage picked up a potted plant, running her fingers over the delicate stem and leaves. She placed it in her windowsill and checked the dirt. It was dry. Water trickled in thin streams as Sage squeezed her soaked shirt over the plant.

Thump.

The wall separating Nathan and her room shook, which it always did when he closed his dresser. Good. He's awake.

Sage hastily piled her hair on top of her head in an attempt to hide the wet strands. SHe was going to finally talk to him.

Her dad's bedroom was open and bare, save for the pair of slippers by the bed. He was on another business trip.

Nathan's room, the room to her left, was closed. Familiar posters proclaiming things like : Math Genius Parking and Keep Calm and Run were back on his door. He must've put them back up.

Sage placed an ear against the wood, a finger tracing over the letter M. Not a sound to be heard. Frowning, her hand found the brass knob. She turned it slowly, the faintest squeak piercing the hallway. The tips of her fingers pushed on the wood, and the door creaked open.

Nathan's bare back greeted her.

The skin was angry and inflamed, strips of dead flesh hanging loose. Dried trails of blood caked his back in criss-crossed trails.

A silent gasp escaped Sage. What happened to him? She shut the door and retreated to her room. Nerves trembled throughout her entire body. With shaking hands she opened her bedroom door and shut it closed behind her. Confusion made her movements slow and heavy.

Nathan had been different, and a part of Sage questioned if she even knew who Nathan was anymore. The blood and mud stained clothes, the absence of him around the house, possibly talking to Evelyn, and now his shredded up back... There could be a reasonable explanation, right? But Sage knew she was fooling herself.